Thomas Henry Helgeson

I just learned of Tom's passing. I can't express the deep sense of loss personally and for the family as well as the Fly Fishing comuity in general. I learned how to tie flys at his Bright Waters store, purchased my first "real" fly rod and reel from Tom. The lessons I learned at his clinics to Trout Run and 7 Pines about fly fishing and stweardship of the streams have been part of me ever since. I have know very few men that were loved, and respected as much as Tom was. This time when he left the stream of life a large hole remains.

Streams, rivers, and all that live therein have lost a great ambassador and advocate, as have we who appreciate those precious resources. It’s always surprising to hear the passing of someone as active, engaging, and vital as Tom, who seemed as alive as anyone you know when you were in his presence. I’m grateful for having known him, and for all that he did to advance conservation and appreciation of the natural world.

B & Family: I am so sorry for your loss.

Thanks, Tom, for being a mentor, and above all a good friend. Semper Fi

Tom was a "regular" customer in a small sporting goods shop I managed in Edina back in the 70's. He was working for the Mpls Star at the time, but his passion for fly fishing and the outdoors would take him in a different direction. I remember the day he walked into the store and announced he was going into the fly fishing business and was going to open his own shop. I told him he was nuts. I'm so glad he didn't listen to me! Following the store was Midwest Fly Fishing Magazine and the Great Waters Fly Fishing Expos. "Thank you Tom, for following your dream and taking us all along for a beautiful ride."

Helgeson family, I want you to know you have my sympathy, thoughts and prayers as you face this sad time. Tom was an inspiration.

Tom, Thanks for mentoring me and fanning the fire to get the Kinnickinnic Sporting Arts Gallery and Northern Driftless Area Closing Ceremonies underway at Kinni Creek Lodge & Outfitters. Peaceful waters to you Tom.

To the Helgeson family,
My thoughts and prayers go out to you during this difficult time.

I am so grateful that Tom took a few minutes of his time, and a half page in one edition, to give my son Evan the opportunity to test his writing chops. That opportunity developed into a mentorship that has become the foundation of Evan's educational and career goals.

Tom's legacy will live on through his wise teachings, not only to Evan, but to the many students in the Southwest High School Fly Fishing Club. They so loved his visits and sessions; and the opportunity to be part of the Expo.

I now regret more than ever not finishing the article we talked about to write about friends before they pass. Tom I can not express enough how much you will be missed by many. We need to carry on with your dreams!

Rest In Peace and Semper Fidelis, Tom.
Thank you for your outstanding service to our country and our flyfishing world & community.

"Let us now praise famous men."

Helgeson Family,
I knew your dad through my dad, Dexter. I am so sorry for the loss of your father, grandfather, husband. I ran into your dad several times at the TCM expo. I'm reading all about your dad's fly fishing and love for the outdoors but not about his running! Despite injuries and lack of training he was still out there. I thought he was in his mid 50's. He never aged despite the fact that over 15-20 years have passed since I first met him.

I am sad for your family, I'm sad for those grandkids that won't have the opportunity to fish with him. But knowing the community your dad has here, his spirit will live on, and you will feel his presence near streams and in the woods.

Blessings of peace to you all.
Kara O'Brien (Dexter's Daughter)

I am saddened to learn of Tom's death, and extend sincere sympathy to his family and to everyone who knew and loved Tom. May his memory be eternal!

Notes On A Dear Friend’s Passing

Not so long ago, I received one of those “spam” emails and photo collections on the internet. Entitled “Hey, we’re just trying to fish here,” it shows three fellows out on a fishing expedition along some Western river, the muted hills and cottonwoods in the background, the clear water sliding by.

Out onto the rock-strewn gravel bar comes a yearling mule deer, which being curious as deer often are, nuzzles right up to one of the fishermen and allows him to pet it and offer what looks like a hard, barely-edible granola bar from his fishing vest. The next few photos show the other fellows also petting the unafraid animal, putting down their fly rods, as if to say, “This can wait.”

I got this email a few days before my longtime friend, Tom Helgeson of Minneapolis, passed away from cancer. I sent it to him as a reminder of the beauty of all of God’s creation. Tom and I fished many streams together back in my Minneapolis days; indeed, we taught each other the finer points of fly fishing for trout, of stalking quietly among the willows and overhanging branches, of appreciation for God’s wondrous and beautiful Earth.

Following his passing, I have thought about Tom and about how we can only be interrupted temporarily from this wonderful metaphor of sport-for-life, and if the interruption must be so, then let it be done by another of God’s so beautiful creatures. It is as if God had sent the deer to call Tom away from us for a time, knowing we will get to another stream where he has gone on ahead, along the rocks and currents, perhaps to pet another deer and explore some deep and quiet pool.

Dame Juliana Berners writes that fishing is not just for the health of our bodies, but for the health of our souls. That was surely the case with Tom. Many times, we would go to the Rush or Kinnickkinnick Rivers in Wisconsin, and he would remark on the beauty of the place, the sunlight, the water, the gentle, rolling farmland and brushy, shallow stream banks. It was almost as if the trout were incidental. It was pure refreshment from our stressed and deadlined lives as journalists; out here in the fresh air and along the dappling, flowing runs and pools, the urban tension dropped away and we were left with what is essential, what is elemental, what is basic.

That was Tom, a person of essential things. He noticed many of the fine details in the natural world: a blown-down warbler’s nest, delicate and woven of fine grass and bits of leaf; a wash of rounded stones, glistening wet, just below the surface, left behind by the spring’s high water; a few tracks in the mud from a muskrat dragging bits of grass to an undercut bank; a twist of bark, lying curled and bleached at the base of a paper birch tree.

He loved the Minnesota woods, fields and streams and in his magazine, he gently showed others how to love them too. The magazine was sometimes only tangentially about fishing or trout, although it sprang from both. In his regular column, he would take a momentary experience, as if he were relating a front-porch story to a youngster, tell the narrative, then the meaning, and ending with the message for us all. I hope someone collects these columns into a published volume, for readers present and future to cherish. His insights, and his life, have left us all richer beyond measure, of things essential.

I miss you already, my dear friend, Tom. Godspeed.

Rep. Stephen Hartgen
District 23
Idaho House of Representatives
[email protected]

Godspeed, great friend.